I'll wait for you
by TOMPSE
Summary: A story expanding on the quest "The Kingdom of the Sand" from Wynncraft. The ending has been changed.


The wind danced across the dunes.

It was impossible to see the wind, but the sand it in it gave a good indication.

Lanu watched the dunes as she took a break. Lanu was a dark blue-haired woman with clear blue eyes dressed in a hooded cloak that covered her upper half and drooped over her left leg. The robes hid her great form and the white tunic and shorts she wore. She was sitting down because sand got in her shoes and made it uncomfortable to stand and beside her was her wooden staff, a rough shape with a candle stuck in it as the primary channeling device.

Behind was a door, the entrance to the great tomb of Hashr, the fallen emperor of the sands. She had been at this tomb for who knows how long, attempting to break the seal to the tomb. The magus association she belonged to wanted to see the emperor after rumors he had not truly died.

The tomb was in the east corner of the continent, near the invaded barracks of The Great City of Almuj, where one of the generals went rogue and turned the barracks into a bandit refuge, though it had already been dealt with. The tomb itself was embedded into a wall of the rising mountain that no one had ever seen the other side of. There was a large staircase that led to the door, underneath it a pond. However, Lanu knew not to drink from the pond, as it was infested with man-eating scorpions and scarabs.

That said, Luna had been here for months, repeating the same spell in a vague attempt to open the door. It was her best option because she didn't know anything else she could've done. She'd heard the legend that only the emperor's staff could open it, but she had no indication of where it could be, aside from rumors of bandits she wanted nothing to do with.

She turned around again and cast the same spell once more. Maybe she didn't want to believe that tale, or she just didn't want to try, but she cast the same spell.

_"By scorching heat and shifting sand, break the barrier that seals this land!"_

Her staff let out a stream that impacted the wall and dispelled.

"Ugh, I guess maybe the legend is true about the scepter," she said, giving up. She was feeling a bit off today, so she didn't have the resolve to continue for now. She felt a presence behind her and turned.

Behind her was a Ragniadventurer. He was wearing a golden helmet that had a strange mark on it that looked hand-painted, with chain pants and gold boots. He was probably a pretty low level. His flaming spear was a high-end item for his level. He had dirty brown hair that was slightly visible from inside his helmet, his darkened brown eyes even less so.

"Ah, a Ragni Soldier. I didn't think you had much to do out here in the desert?" she said. Most Ragni soldiers stayed with the Wynn plains, rarely going beyond the savanna.

"Well, there's a quest here, so I decided to come over," the soldier said.

"I'm out here trying to get into the emperor's tomb. Although I'm realizing I can't without his scepter." Lanu said.

"You need to use a scepter to get in here? Is it restricted to mages? Or old people?" the soldier joked. Lanu laughed.

"No, unfortunately, that's not the case. Way before the portal came about, there was a massive empire laid across this land. A powerful emperor ruled with a mystical weapon. When he died, the empire fell beneath the sand. Untold treasures are inside the emperor's tomb. But without his weapon, there is no hope of entering. It's long been rumored that bandits have the sceptre. They probably have no idea what it is. If you could get it, we could enter the dungeon and seek out the emperor for ourselves. The bandit's base is at the start of the mesa, up the hill," she explained. The wynn soldier nodded, and after a pause, off he went.

Lanu began to wonder what was happening to that soldier. She was sitting once again in front of the tomb. It had been a few days since he left, and he wasn't back yet.

"Maybe the bandits got him," Lanu thought. The bandits she sent him off to weren't actually that aggressive unless provoked. Lanu thought it would be hard to provoke them, but since he was a Ragni soldier, there was a likelihood that could have happened.

"Why did I have to send a soldier off to death like that?" she said out loud. From the look of it, he was pretty dedicated and had a shining future. She had cut him short all too quickly. She lamented her powerlessness and cowardice, the two factors which led to her not going herself. She wanted to go and not honor the soldier's bravery, but she couldn't bring herself to enter the bandit camp.

Many months had passed. Lanu was still in front of the tomb. She didn't do anything besides wait and the necessities. Call it impossible, but her months in seclusion beforehand made her get attached to that soldier who came to help her risking his life and probably dying. She became more and more convinced the more she thought it over. She was rather fond of him. Days melted into weeks, weeks into months. Eventually, she stopped counting the days and lay there helplessly as she waited.

The sky had darkened. It was a rain that had finally come after many months. Lanu didn't bother moving. Her frayed and tattered desert worn robes stuck to her skin. Her disregarded staff cast an automatic warmth spell on Lanu, so it felt as if there was warm rain comforting her tired and exhausted body.

She let herself succumb to the feeling and decided to visit Almuj for a while. The city was rejoicing as the rain that they missed had returned. Buckets were everywhere, from people collecting as much water as they could. Lanu was passing by, as the city partied and rejoiced. She found herself at a tavern before long.

"What brings a pretty lady like you during this rain?" The bartender said.

"Just… wanted some time to collect myself," Lanu said, taking a seat. The tavern was dark and musty, made of sandstone and faded wood. It was pretty empty. There was only the table where the bartender was, a shelf for alcohol, and a few chairs scattered about. The bartender, a sleek man with sandy hair on a sharp slope down his face that covered the right side of his face and faded clothes wiped off a cloudy glass and filled it up with some mild scarab wine and passed it to her.

"I'm not sure this is quite the place to go. Or the time, but if you're fine with me and my neglected shop, do stay a while," he said.

"Not sure I've seen you around, you from around here?" the bartender asked.

"No, I'm from-," Lanu caught herself before she slipped up. "The east."

"What's someone from the plains doing here?"

"I got a special task"

The bartender's brow headed north.

"And what would that be?"

"Unearthing something", Lanu dodged.

"I thought the Wynn Excavation team left after that adventurer took the crystal," the bartender poked in the wrong direction.

"Which adventurer?" Lanu replied.

"I thought you would know," the bartender said. "I don't. I only know that he was a spear wielder."

"Really? When did he take it?" Lanu asked. The bartender's eye flashed briefly.

"About a year or so ago," the bartender replied. _I stopped counting around 8 months ago, so maybe he might be alive_. Luna thought. The bartender noticed her brightening.

Lanu spent a long time in that tavern. She and the bartender caught up on things, and a while before sunset, she set out to go.

"I'm going to get going, thanks," she said, smiling for the first time in a long time.

"Take care, Lanu," the bartender said.

Lanu didn't realize he'd found out her name until after she was back at the tomb.

Lanu was spending less and less time at the tomb. When she woke up, she would gaze at the desert while eating fried scarab and whatever she'd bought from Almuj. She would do so until about dinner when she would go to Almuj to hang with the bartender. He talked gossip. She would listen. Hours would pass at a time when she hung out with him. She would stay until about 10:00. When she would trek back to the tomb.

This schedule took many months to develop, with Lanu's reluctance to leave the tomb. She was now good friends with the bartender, Whose name she found was Ben. Ben kept her informed on whether or not a spear-wielding adventurer had been spotted. The problem was that the main weapon that Wynn soldiers used was the spear.

Lanu didn't know how to feel about that turn of events, as she wanted to see the spear adventurer again.

"I've been thinking, have you considered who would assign a quest like helping you?" the bartender asked.

"I don't know, the only people who would know why I'm at the tomb would not send help. The society is pretty small, and they prefer not to spread their numbers."

"I've looked into it myself, and according to the bank in Detlas, they have bank accounts for almost all the adventurers. I asked them about spear-wielding adventurers, and they offered to show me their inventories,"

"Doesn't that violate their privacy?" Lanu asked.

"It does, but I have well, connections with them. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to head to Detlas again, so do you want to come and take a look? Maybe you'll find something,"

"Thank you. I'll show up around sunrise. Is that fine?" she replied.

"Sounds fine. See you then," the bartender said. The evening passed as they cheerfully spoke with each other.

"The city sure is bustling," Lanu said. She was with Ben in the town center of Detlas. She was admiring the Item Identifier's setup.

"Yeah, many an adventurer passes by here," the Identifier said. "It's good business, but they always get angry at me for telling them how bad the items they bring me can be. Sometimes they even bring mythical items and get angry at me for telling them it's got subpar stats. Like, seriously, it's still a mythical item. But at least I get paid much more to re-identify it."

"How does identifying work?" Lanu asked. She had never been to the real cities, only going to the outskirts of civilization for the order of magus.

"I enchant the item to imbue it with the effects it should have. If they want to reroll it, I have to cast three spells: one to disenchant it, one to enchant it, and one to identify it," the Identifier explained.

"Amazing, I've never seen magic like this," Lanu said in wonder.

"Well, every city hires one of us, and we tend to avoid each other," the man said. "I'm lucky Detlas chose me, I get the most business, heh."

"As much as I'd like to let you ogle the city, we have things to do, Lanu," Ben said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Ah, yes, I forgot. Sorry," she said, pulling back. The Item Identifier gave her a grin and went back to sorting his all too obvious potato stash.

"Spear wielding adventurers. Here you go," the man managing the bank said. He used spatial magic to display the inventories of said adventurers to the two.

"Anything about him that you can remember?" Ben asked.

"Uhm, he was wearing a gold helmet, uh, leather chest plate, and chain pants and boots. He also had a red spear with a flaming blade," Lanu described.

"That is common gear for low adventurers. If it's been about a year since you last saw him, there's no way that he is still that low. I'd say he's wearing iron at minimum now. How many are wearing iron-diamond armor?" Ben asked.

"Hmm, I'd say about 10. Although that doesn't narrow it down too much. Anything else you remember about your friend?" the man said.

"He said he was doing it for a quest," Lanu said. That was all she knew about him.

"Lanu, I'm not sure if you know, but adventurers take quests as a living," Ben said sarcastically.

"Oh! Do you know where he could get such a quest for the tomb I was at?" Lanu asked.

"I've already tried. But since I don't know where the tomb is, I'm restricted to looking for quests in Almuj, a city known for assigning collection quests and trading. The amount of trader escort and scarab extermination quests was mind-boggling," Ben replied.

"I may have something," the banker suddenly said. "If he was in the south Almuj desert for a quest, that means that afterward, he must have gone to Rymek, which means that he must have the gold they use as currency somewhere in his bank."

"Oh yeah! I did send him towards Rymek. If they didn't kill him immediately, he must've stopped by the bank at least one time!" Lanu exclaimed.

"Alright, inventories with gold currency in them," the banker said. All the inventories but one dissipated. "Is this your man?"

"I know you might not want to, but you should look through a bit for anything in here that the person you are looking for might have," Ben said.

"Is that okay?" Lanu said. Her morality was at odds with her desire to find that adventurer.

"If it's for the sake of helping people find people they've lost, I'm willing to bend some rules," the banker said. "I've lost someone myself, I know how it feels."

"Thank you," she said, taking a look at the inventory. The bank was pretty messy, with little semblance of organization. As she went deeper into the storage, she found the inventory became less and less organized, with junk that was seemingly thrown in beginning to fill it."

"Wow," Ben said, from behind her. "Quite messy. And that's coming from me!"

Lanu didn't respond. She was frozen to her spot.

"Lanu?" Ben asked. She shook her lightly on the shoulder, which jarred her from her stunned state. She reached into the inventory and pulled out a golden helmet. It was dusty from all the time it was in storage. On its right flank, where the corner of the forehead and temple would be, was a red mark. It was faded and had a scratch that hadn't been there before.

But Lanu knew. This was his helmet. It was the same wisp-like shape which condensed into a wolf. This was his helmet.

"You might want to put that back," the banker said. "That is something precious to him."

"You know him?" Lanu said, putting it back in the inventory hastily and moving to invade the banker's personal space.

"Er, yes. But I haven't heard from him in a while. Last I heard, he was heading towards the canyon of the lost," the banker said, backing up.

"The canyon of the lost… that is unfortunate," Ben said.

"What?" Lanu said, turning towards Ben.

"Almost no one returns from there," Ben replied.

"He can, I'm sure!" Lanu said desperately.

"I'm sorry. But the Canyon of the Lost is where too many meet their end. Even the brightest adventurers don't come back. They all get invited to a Hive by someone named Qira and never come back," Ben said.

"How do you know?!" Lanu said. Ben sighed and lifted the slanted fringe on his face.

Below the fringe of hair, was a scar that started at where his sideburn would be, and ran to the upper part of his forehead. The eye was missing, and the eyelid was divided.

"I was one of those who was invited. You never asked how I knew your name. I'm from the same magus association as you. The Fruman parallel magic investigation society, if I remember correctly. I was also an adventurer. I joined a party way back whenever, and made it to the Canyon of the Lost. We were doing well until Qira invited us to her hive. She told us she was looking for the strongest humanity had to offer. We, being the naive and arrogant adventurers we were, gladly accepted the challenge.

The first division was hell. We lost two members of our party, before making it out. Qira rewarded us for this and told us to try the air division afterward. We thought it was just a fluke, and to honor our fallen party members, we continued.

Everyone died, but I managed to break my way out of the hive. Qira caught me escaping and gave me this. She decided I probably couldn't survive the way back and left me to die. I did manage to make it out, staggering my way back to Cinfras, and taking an airship back here. I let the order think I had died and decided to live my life in solitude in Almuj. I figured I'd never hear anything about adventurers there, much less my party. That's where I met you, and out of curiosity, I decided maybe I could look back into adventuring business. But if it really was the Canyon of the Lost, he's dead." Ben said.

Lanu's eyes lost their color. She didn't want to believe it, but there was no denying it. There was no way he could've survived the hive.

"I see…" Lanu said, turning and leaving. "I need to… collect myself."

"You didn't need to kill off her hope of so mercilessly,"

"I know, it's just, thinking about my old party, I couldn't think straight," Ben said.

"I know. My daughter never could stop talking about you," the banker said. "When I heard she died, and you came back like that, I felt like my world had collapsed. She still has hope, so you make sure she doesn't end up like us. I'll add a banknote for him to visit… what was the name of the tomb?"

"The Tomb of Hashr," Ben said. The bank manager nodded and began to write. "I bet the association told her to unseal that thing. It's impossible without Hashr's scepter."

"You know he has it," the banker said. He showed the inventory again, showing the item on display.

"Lanu sent him out to get it, so why hasn't he come back yet?" Ben said. His face twitching.

"Haven't you heard? Unsealing the tomb will release the undead emperor and his undead army which will invade the surface," the banker said. "He probably didn't come back to give it to her so that would never happen."

"That damn idiot," Ben said.

Lanu was at the tomb again. She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing here.

_Why did I send him out? I should've gone with him. If I knew I'd want to see him this badly, I would've gone with him. Why couldn't I realize that?_

Tears made their way down her face and to the ground, soaking into the sand. In a sudden burst of rage, she twisted and threw her staff at the barrier, shattering it against it and brought her knees to her chest as she wept.

Night had fallen upon the sand-swept tomb where Lanu was. The stars of the night shone brightly upon the darkened sands. The faraway horizon showed the faint outline of Almuj, although somewhat obscured by the various structures before it. _The sands seemed so much calmer and less deadly on nights like these._

Lanu thought as she watched. She had run out of tears and was silently watching the night. She had run from detlas back here and didn't stop. Her legs were still in pain, but she didn't care. All she could do was stare at the night sky with contempt as she cursed herself for being so weak.

Ben polished the murky glasses in his tavern. It had been a few weeks since he and Lanu went to detlas. He hadn't heard a peep from her since. He debated on whether or not to go visit, but ruled against it. He remembered the talks he had with Lanu. He remembered when she first showed up to his bar. It was the first rain Almuj had seen in a long few months. Ben was only planning on staying inside his bar a little more before going out to enjoy the rain, but she showed up and became the most interesting thing to come by in a long time. She was so bad at hiding her magus association ties. She didn't even bother hiding her magic presence, which was tagged by the organization. Although he looked like just a bartender, so she probably didn't think he'd be able to figure that out.

She then showed up periodically here and there for a chat, and then every day. It made working fun for once. He rarely had customers, much less people to talk to, although he preferred it that way.

She was always thinking about the spear-wielding adventurer. It reminded him of his time with his old party. He remembered the adventures they used to have. The one time the tank got caught in vines and had to be rescued. The time they found out their mage had a petrifying fear of frogs. He wished he could go back to those days. Back when everything was fun and exciting. When every day he could wake up to a new adventure.

Leon, the tank. Nathan the archer. Emilia the mage. Lucia… the assassin. Ben was the front line warrior, the one who had the biggest role in the party. When they entered the thunder division everything went well. They fought in their usual formation and cleared it easily. Despite being a lower level than recommended, the first 4 stages were easy. They began to struggle, but thought nothing of it. That was when the floor boss appeared. He teleported behind them and instantly obliterated Emilia. The party was shocked, and during that the boss once again teleported and shot Leon. Leon managed to survive, and together, they managed to defeat the boss, but Leon died of his wounds shortly after.

"Can't believe I'm dying right after the battle is over. I was prepared to die during it but to die after it is a bit underwhelming, heh," Leon's final words were. With the mage dead, there was no way to heal him, so he passed with his party around him. They had also taken Emilia's corpse with them, although it was hard to even recognize her. They blast the boss fired off had shredded into her.

They bid their farewells, buried the dead, and moved on. The air division was hell. They barely managed to scrape by the first stage, and on the second, without a mage to heal them, they began to fall. First was Nathan, Smashed into a wall by a ram. Then was Lucia. She held off the spear-wielding foes of the third stage as she told Ben to run. Ben asked how, and she threw her dagger which stabbed into the wall behind him. Desperate, he smashed through the walls of the hive in a desperate attempt to live. As he made it out, he turned and saw something he would never forget. Lucia, with spears through her, blocked them and fought. Their eyes met, and she smiled at him.

"I love you," she mouthed. With tears in his eyes, he turned and ran.

"I never thought someone would stoop as low as to break out at the cost of a comrade's life. You disgust me. DIE!" Qira said, suddenly appearing, and striking him with one of her spider limbs faster than he could react, taking out his eye. He fell from the massive Hive to the ground below.

As he was in his crater, with hive insects moving closer and closer, he thought about Lucia's final words to him.

"I love you" he repeated. There were tears in his eyes. It felt like he hadn't cried this much in his entire life these past few days. _I remember the glances she usually shot at me. I remembered the blush she had when I talked about her. I remembered the things she'd do to try to get my attention. How could I have been so stupid? How did I not notice? Why couldn't I tell her I felt the same? I was a coward. I wanted to kill himself. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I want to live!_

That thought dragged him out of his hole and back to civilization. It was when he found himself back in Cinfras that his guilt and loss came back.

"I thought coming here would help me run from my guilt. Yet the me from before all this comes before me and reminds me how it was so many years ago," Ben mused aloud. He moved to the back room of the tavern. It was a small room where he slept. In one corner there was his bed. On the other, there was a shrine. He knelt before it.

"Leon, Nathan, Emilia, Lucia. I hope you are doing well. I'm sorry I haven't said anything since then. I want you to know I'm sorry. I want you to know that I… I… miss you guys so much…" Ben kept his position for a while, letting the tears of his one remaining eye fall.

"Lanu… I hope you are reunited with the one you cherish."

The dunes were still. Not a single grain could be seen

The sun beat down heavily on the sand.

Lanu stared emptily at the sands around her. The door was behind her. The remnants of her staff were behind her. Her happiness was behind her. How many months had it been? Had it transferred to years yet? Lanu didn't know. All she knew now were the sands. Perhaps it was for the better.

She hadn't eaten in days. After a while, she had finally stopped eating the same fried scarabs. They had no taste to her anymore. She stopped going to Almuj. She only looked out at the desert.

She knew her grip on consciousness was weak. She could not feel her frail body, much less move it. She saw hallucinations, from either heat or hunger, or perhaps both, were playing tricks on her. She saw a giant scarab fighting an army of rattlesnakes. She saw an assassin group throwing sand at each other. She saw a miner digging into the river. But on the horizon, she saw a figure approaching. Her heart leaped into her throat.  
Could it be him? It couldn't be. He's dead.

But the figure has a spear! There are tons of people who use spears.

Lanu tried to convince herself it couldn't be him.

Maybe it's the association telling me I've failed.

But holds a staff like that.

Lanu just contradicted herself and shot down her counterargument.

If I close my eyes, it'll just disappear, like all the hallucinations.

The hallucination didn't disappear. It grew closer.

And closer.

The features became clearer. The man was wearing a scarf that's tails blew in the wind. He was wearing diamond plate armor with dragon scale mesh beneath it. And his face, Had clean brown hair and piercing almost black eyes.

It is him!

She tried to get up and stumbled, and ran towards him. Her frail body protested heavily, causing her to stagger, and almost fall, but she found himself before him, hugging him.

He was real! He's alive!

The man froze.

"Took you long enough," Lanu said, crying.

Side Story: Adventures of the Spear

Ray was an odd adventurer. He had an odd obsession with spears, and would only use them. No one else could comprehend it.

"Just use a sword. Where are you going to find an enchanted spear?"

"Why not use a bow? You don't even have to bother getting close."

"Use magic. You don't need any mechanical skill, just cast a spell and have your problems dealt with."

With his passion for the spear, no one wanted them in their parties. The military wasn't an option for him, as he wanted to explore the world. All the guards did was stand there anyway. The guard golems always did everything. Although Ray felt like something was off with them. Sometimes they would just stare at him like they needed help even though they were fine.

So, alone, Ray explored the vast world. His travels took him to where he was now, the great city of Almuj. Or more accurately, behind it. Ray was traveling to the sand-swept tomb for a quest.

When he got there, he saw a figure in a hood casting a spell on the door, only for it to fail. He walked up to her, and she turned to him. Woah. She was pretty cute. Her hood covered blue hair so dark it almost appeared black which sloped fringe covered which stopped just above the right eye, with bangs that framed her face. She was covered pretty well in her cloak, holding a peculiar staff.

"Ah, a Ragni Soldier. I didn't think you had much to do out here in the desert?" she said. She's got a pretty voice too. Ray didn't have much experience with girls, which was rare among adventurers.

"Well, there's a quest here, so I decided to come over," he said. He chose his words carefully, as to not embarrass himself.

"I'm out here trying to get into the emperor's tomb. Although I'm realizing I can't without his sceptre." Lanu said. _You need a scepter to enter a tomb? _

"You need to use a scepter to get in here? Is it restricted to mages? Or old people?" Ray tried to joke. Unexpectedly, the joke hit, and she laughed.

"No, unfortunately, that's not the case. Way before the portal came about, there was a massive empire laid across this land. A powerful emperor ruled with a mystical weapon. When he died, the empire fell beneath the sand. Untold treasures are inside the emperor's tomb. But without his weapon, there is no hope of entering. It's long been rumored that bandits have the sceptre. They probably have no idea what it is. If you could get it, we could enter the dungeon and seek out the emperor for ourselves. The bandit's base is at the start of the mesa, up the hill," the mage said. Ray nodded in acknowledgment.

Hours later, after conversing with the bandits, he was at the house where they had hidden the scepter. Now that he was close to finishing his goal, he began to have second thoughts.

"We hid the scepter for a reason. If that mage unseals that tomb, the undead emperor and his army will be unleashed upon Wynn. Many people will die," the bandit leader said. He had challenged Ray to a duel, and after his loss, the bandit leader explained why they hid it. Now he was torn. He had two options:

Take the scepter and give it to Lanu, possibly unleashing an undead horde on the level of the portal from hundreds of years ago that wiped out ancient Nemract.

Or

Keep the scepter, to keep it away from everyone, making it impossible to unleash the horde.  
It was a no brainer. Ray felt sad that he wouldn't be able to help the mage and leave her hanging, but Ray was sure she'd give up or get reassigned soon enough. He knew he couldn't tell her he couldn't find it, so he left the desert.

One and a Half Years Later

Ray was now an accomplished adventurer. He'd traveled from Wynn to Gavel, and Gavel to Corkus. Along the way, he learned many things, like the secret of the guard golems, the legends of Bob and Seigfried, and the hextech wonders of Corkus.

He'd defeated the Tower of Ascension, bested the Hive, and conquered Dr. Legendary's challenge. He had also found a mythical item, which he exchanged for the mythical spear he treasured more than anything.

Along the way, he had made a few friends, some even girls! He was resting after Dr. Legendary's challenge, hanging around the bank. His body hurt from all the damage he received, although it was repaired by his spear, which was known for its lifesteal. He was resting near the town center, next to the blacksmith. He was good friends with the blacksmith, after giving him weapons to scrap and the blacksmith repairing his spears.

"How rough was it?" the blacksmith asked.

"You should've seen. There was one machine that used mushrooms or something and sent me to realms that were trippy as hell. There was another one that disintegrated people," Ray said. The blacksmith laughed.

"I wondered how long it would take that crazy man to make something like that," he said. The blacksmith knew Dr. Legendary when he was young and still searching the continent for powerful beings. "Was Bob one of them?"

"Yeah"

"How did he manage to get an accurate representation of Bob when only you have fought him for his trial?" the blacksmith asked.

"Maybe he just constructed what he could from the legends," Ray said.

"I should write stuff about you, maybe I'll get to see a mechanical version of you at Legendary Island one day. The power merchant keeps me informed," the blacksmith joked.

"No thanks, I don't know how I'd feel about other people fighting, or even dying to a representation of me," Ray said. He got up from his position to go put his full inventory into his bank.

"You mind staying here for a while? You're very good for business" the blacksmith grinned.

"No thanks ya greedy bastard," Ray said over his shoulder.

"That doesn't mean much from a limp noodle like you! Get a girlfriend already!" the blacksmith yelled back.

"Fuck you!" he said.

Ray stuffed the tokens from Legendary Island into his bank. He was the first to conquer the challenge, so Dr. Legendary allowed him to pick any accessories he wanted. Ray chose to be simple and just picked the necklace which gave him extra skill points. Putting the tokens in, he noticed a new banknote.

"Someone is looking for me at the Great Tomb of Hashr?" Ray wondered aloud.  
"That mage is looking for me?"

He thought about it for a while, weighing his options.

"Well, if she went through the effort of finding me through the bank, it might be worth coming back," he finally decided.

After walking his way back through the sweltering desert, he came upon the bridge that led to the tomb. Someone was running towards him. Or was it staggering. He couldn't tell at this distance, so he readied his spear. Looking closer, it was the mage.

She looked terrible. Her face had sunken in, and dark lines had appeared below her eyes. Her body also looked worn, and she was thin. She was staggering, and when she reached him, she enveloped him in a hug. He was stunned.

"Took you long enough," she said, crying.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find the scepter," he said. She hugged him tighter.

"I don't care. As long as you're alive," she said.

"How could I have died?"

"I heard you entered the canyon of the lost and the Hive, I heard it was impossible to survive,"

"I managed to defeat Qira, so don't worry about it," Ray said, putting on a smile. He'd heard it helped people crying to smile, so he gave his best.

"Thank god," she said, finally pulling back. She gave a smile that, despite her withered look, reached deep into Ray's heart.

"Come on, let's fix you up. Looks like we have a lot to catch up on," Ray said, this time his smile genuine.

"Yeah," she said. Together, they walked back to Almuj. The one who waited, and the one who couldn't return.


End file.
